Responsibility
by SPT
Summary: The team runs into some trouble on a new planet, and ,gasp, Cameron disobeys a direct order.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: "Title Ideas Needed"**

**Rating: K+**

**Disclaimer: I don't own or have any rights to Stargate or its characters.**

**Comments: Okay, I'm starting to think I have a problem, one of these days I'm going to have to stop myself. But seriously, I need some help with a title here, I'm drawing a blank.**

**Summary: The team runs into some trouble on a new planet, and (gasp) Cameron disobeys a direct order.**

"Damn it Jackson, you've gotta be more careful." Cameron growled as he rolled off the archeologist, earning a 'woof' of air out of Daniel at his strategically placed elbow. "This stuff is looser than it looks, and the last thing I need is for you to get caught in a rock slide here."

Jackson rubbed at his solar plexus while he remained laying on the shale, he was pretty damn sure that Mitchell's elbow had landed there deliberately. He felt a small spike of embarrassment, and decided against revenge, when Cam reached down to gently palpate the side of his leg where Jackson had crashed into him. "Yeah, sorry about that, guess I got a little excited over that wall." A look of disbelief met his admission.

"The wall?"

Daniel took the proffered hand and scrambled to his feet. "Yeah, its an interesting architecture and there's some dialect of ancient there that I-"

"Stop. You can tell me the rest after we get off this damn hill. I'm going to go find Sam and Teal'c, come over when you finish with the camera." Cameron started to walk off carefully across the loose shale, he turned back to encourage Jackson to make it quick. The 'hurry up' died on his lips when he saw the blood running down the back of his neck. "Hey, you're bleeding," he indicated the place on his own neck.

Daniel winced as he pulled a small sliver of rock from just below his hair line. "Ouch, must have happened when I took you out. Don't worry, I promise to be quick."

"Good, I got a bad feeling about this 'uninhabited' planet." The air quotes were enough to get Jackson to crack a smile.

Fifteen minutes later, Cam was passed pissed, he vaguely remembered Gen. O'Neill mentioning something about sociopolitical geeks _never_ doing what they're told. "I'm going to go drag Jackson back here so we can get the hell off this freaking planet." There were days were he felt that he'd been reduced to nothing more than the 'get-em-and fetch-em" guy.

Sam and Teal'c looked up from the ancient device they had unearthed, both had caught the high stress level in his voice, "Cam?"

"Bad feeling," he muttered as he headed for the door.

Teal'c turned in surprise when Carter immediately began packing. "I've known him for a long time," she explained. "He doesn't get these feelings very often, but when he does, everyone listens. The last one he had was before his squadron left for Antarctica."

Teal'c's brow creased in concern; Mitchell's bad feeling only served to highlight his own unease. He immediately tightened his grip on the P-90 he held in each hand. "Perhaps this planet is not as uninhabited as it appears.

"Either way, I'd rather not stick around to find out. Give me a hand here, will you please." Teal'c turned and inclined his head, they packed for another thirty seconds before a deep voice from behind froze their blood.

"You take orders from a Tauri, Shov'la?"

"Damn it." Sam raised her Zat knowing that Teal'c's bulk blocked her from view. One Zat against five armed Jaffa wasn't worth a hell of a lot, but she couldn't let them get their hands on this device. She managed to take down two of the Jaffa before they collected their wits enough to return fire. Carter and Teal'c dove in opposite directions looking for cover. Sam hissed as she felt one of the staff blasts graze her lower leg.

"Col. Carter?"

"I'm fine Teal'c, but I think we've got a problem." Sam raised he hands away from her body as she felt the business end of a staff weapon at her back. A glance to her left told her that Teal'c was in a similar predicament.

Two hundred yards away, Jackson was having his own problems with the Jaffa. One of them had managed to get the jump on him while he was videotaping the last section of the wall. Daniel managed to hold his own for a minute but eventually found himself back on his butt in the shale with the large alien standing over him. A blur in the corner of his vision was the only warning he had before a body bowled into the Jaffa, knocking them both back onto the more unstable part of the hill. He watched as Mitchell landed blow after blow on the still stunned Jaffa. A low grumbling and scraping sound had all three men stopping all motion and looking up the hill. Daniel watched in horror as the shale beneath Mitchell and the Jaffa began shifting, his quick mind immediately understood what was about to happen. Half a second later he saw the same realization in Cameron's eyes as he scrambled off the Jaffa and toward Jackson. Unfortunately, his lightning fast pilot's reflexes weren't quick enough to save him this time, the shale began sliding faster until it was too fast for him to move against. Jackson lunged for Cam's scrambling arm, but his loose footing preventing him from getting a good push off and he came up just inches short. Two sets of blue eyes locked for the briefest second before the motion of the shale rolled Cam and swept him down the hill. Daniel's impulse to follow his team leader down the hill was squashed by a couple of staff blasts at his feet. Deciding he couldn't help Mitchell if he was dead, he scanned the long hillside for any sign of human movement. What he saw was not comforting, there was no movement, but there was a combat boot emerging from a pile of rocks near the bottom of the hill. Daniel was too shaken to do anything but allow himself to be led off by the Jaffa. Five minutes later, he was unceremoniously shoved to the dirt next to Sam and Teal'c.

Usually the stoic and silent one, Teal'c's concern grew the longer Jackson sat there without acknowledging their presence. "DanielJackson, is something wrong?"

"You mean other than the fact that we're sitting here with our hands tied behind our backs surrounded by Jaffa?" Realizing what she'd just said, Sam silently cursed both of her overly sarcastic team leaders. Speaking of which, "hey, where's Cam?"

Daniel continued to stare at the same piece of dirt, his voice monotone, "he's laying under a pile of rocks at the bottom of the hill."

"WHAT?!"

"It caused an avalanche when he tackled the Jaffa off me. I- all-" he stopped to clear his throat, "all I could see was his boot, it wasn't moving."


	2. Chapter 2

The first sensation that he was aware of was the dirt in his mouth, he briefly wondered if that was odd, and then all the other sensations hit him. He groaned aloud even as he realized that it should have been much worse. Slowly moving arm that had come up to protect his head and neck, he saw exactly why it hadn't been worse. Somehow he'd managed to stop himself half underneath a rather large, slanted boulder; it had created a small, but life-saving cocoon. If it hadn't been for that 125 foot slide down the hill, he might have made it out of this relatively unscathed. Unfortunately, there had been that fall down the hill, and he was feeling every foot of it.

Using his free hand, Cam carefully began moving the rocks surrounding his head and chest. He immediately stilled when the sound of two voices drifted his way.

"Lord Ba'al will be most disappointed with the loss of his First Prime."

"Yes, but the capture of SG-1 will appease him when he arrives tonight."

Mitchell could see the two pairs of armor-clad legs only a few feet from his position. He silently prayed that they wouldn't look in his direction too carefully. The team wasn't expected back for another day, so he was their best chance for freedom before Ba'al arrived.

"We are still missing the one called Mitchell."

The second voice gave a short bark of laughter, or as close as Jaffa came to laughter. "He is beneath these rocks at our feet. His teammates already presume his death, and we shall confirm it for them." He held up the battered P-90 they had come across moments before.

Cameron's heart sank at those last words, they thought he was dead, and he had to let them keep thinking that until he could return with help. As much as he would like to think he could, Mitchell knew he couldn't take on a battalion of Jaffa by himself, especially not in his current condition.

He waited a few minutes after the two Jaffa had moved off before he continued to cover himself. He left his right ankle for last since that was the part of his body that was complaining the loudest. Sure enough, he could already feel it swelling in the confines of his boot. Sitting up to uncover his foot also brought another problem to light, specifically the pools of blood that had formed on the rocks where he'd been laying. A tentative exploration around his left side revealed a tear in his t-shirt and a rather deep gash underneath. Perfect, and of course any medical supplies he had were with his jacket and vest up at the ruins.

By a quarter of the way up the hill, 'help the team' had become his mantra and the only thing keeping him going; his entire body was burning with exertion when he finally made it to the interior of the ruins. Sending a couple of 'thank yous' skyward that he hadn't been discovered yet, he began digging first aid supplies out of his vest. Ignoring the cuts and bruises on his arms and torso, he slapped a pad of gauze on his side and fashioned a clandestine splint for his leg. There was no way Landry would let him join the rescue effort if he knew that Cam was hurt.

After taking care of his immediate needs, he took a look around the interior of the ruins hoping that the Jaffa might have left him a weapon. While there were no guns in the immediate vicinity, he was fairly surprised to see that they had left the ancient device untouched. Unfortunately, the damn thing was too big for him to carry back to the gate alone. Knowing he couldn't leave it there for them to finding case they decided to come back for it, he dragged it into one of the adjoining rooms and covered it was best he could. When he was satisfied with his efforts, he grabbed his gear and headed for the gate.

Luck was with him again when he got within site of the gate. One of the two Jaffa guarding the gate had half his torso inside the DHD and the other guard was facing away from him. Being as stealthy as was possible for the energetic man, he made his way to the DHD and snatched the staff weapon leaning against it

He was able to make short work of the guard standing by the gate with a staff blast to the chest. The commotion brought the other guard out from within the DHD. Mitchell managed to catch him in the temple with the blunt end of the staff before he was fully erect. It was enough to stun him, but it took two more blows before he was out completely. Cameron quickly dialed the gate, punched in his IDC, and grabbed the guard in a fireman's carry. The last thing he needed was for this guy to wake up and go get his buddies.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

Sam and Daniel jumped when a P-90 was dropped at their feet, Teal'c remained unfazed. "In our culture it is customary for the weapon of a dead warrior to be given to his family," he stated simply.

"Oh God," Sam's choked sob was only over-shadowed by Teal'c's growl.

"He's lying, right?" Jackson's voice was almost a plea. They lost Vala not all that long ago, he knew they could handle losing Mitchell too.

"I do not believe so DanielJackson. He has no reason to deceive us."

"No!" Both men looked at Carter, her eyes burning with determination. "He's not gone. We are going to get out of here and we are going to find him."

"Sam-" Daniel tried gently.

"Daniel," her tone left no room for argument.

"Ok, so how do we get out of here?"

"I'm working on it."

**STARGATE: SG-1**

"Unscheduled off-world activation."

General Hank Landry groaned as Walter's announcement filtered through the loud speaker. "Is one day without an 'unscheduled off-world activation' too much to ask?" Knowing he wasn't going to get his answer from his office walls, he quickly headed down the stairs to the control room.

"Receiving Col Mitchell's IDC, sir."

"Open the iris," sometimes his life was so repetitive. However, he nearly spit out his coffee when Cam came through the puddle alone, carrying an unconscious Jaffa.

Cameron looked up to the control room as soon as the wormhole closed, "I need you to reestablish an out-going wormhole back to P98-F12. We need to make sure the Jaffa don't try to contact him," he indicated the Jaffa still slung over his shoulders.

Sgt. Harriman looked to Landry for confirmation. "Do it," he muttered on his way out of the room. And to think this was still considered an uneventful day. He entered the gateroom just in time to see Mitchell hand the Jaffa off to a couple of marines with instructions to keep an ear on the communications device. "What the hell happened to you, and where's your team?"

Cam scrubbed at the blood on the side of his face thinking that he should have washed that off. "They've been captured by Ba'al's Jaffa, sir. Ba'al arrives tonight, so we have to go back now. Sam and Teal'c also uncovered an ancient device that we need to bring back."

"SG-4 and 10 are scheduled to leave for P4t-315 in five minutes, I'll divert them here. You need to report to the infirmary, I'll find you when they get back.

Cam looked away, he had known this wasn't going to be easy. He was just glad they had worn black BDUs on this mission, green showed blood stains too easily. "I'm fine, sir. I'll go back with the teams."

The General frowned, "That was an order, Col."

"I'm aware of that sir, but with all due respect, I'm going back with the teams. You can court martial me after we bring my team home; they're my responsibility sir." With that he took a P-90 and a Zat from the nearest marine and turned back toward the gate. "I'll secure the other side," he threw over his shoulder as he stepped through the ring.

It took Landry a minute to compute that he was standing there with his jaw hanging open. Having his 2IC disobey a direct order was a new experience for him. He had half a mind to march through that wormhole and throttle the young Col, but getting SG-1 back was more important right now.


	3. Chapter 3

Teal'c allowed a small smile of triumph as the bonds fell away from his hands. "I am free," he announced quietly.

Daniel sighed with relief and scooted around so that Teal'c could work on his bonds. The sound of weapons fire had all three raising their heads. "Well, either someone is stupid enough to challenge Ba'al, or the Calvary has arrived."

"I'm thinking it's the Calvary."

"And I'm thinking you're right. Time to blow this popsicle stand boys and girls."

"Cam!" Sam threw her now free hands around Mitchell's neck. She also succeeded in gaining the attention of the guards outside their tent.

"Damn it, Sam," he growled as they threw themselves to the side to avoid the staff blasts aimed their way. He winced as the movement pulled at his injured side. Zatting the first guard, he watched as Daniel and Teal'c efficiently took out the second. "You ok," he inquired when he caught sight of the singed material of Carter's pant leg.

"Fine," she mumbled as he helped her to her feet and handed her an extra Zat. "They told us you were dead."

His response was a toothy grin, "Not yet. Now, what do you say we get outta here before they realize that SG-4 was only a distraction." He passed the other two Zats to Jackson and Tela'c. Their jaunt back to the gate was fairly uneventful with SG-4 covering their retreat.

Sam stopped, leaning heavily on the DHD while Cam dialed. "Wait, we have to bring the ancient device back with us."

"And my videotapes," Daniel piped up as he slipped Sam's arm over his shoulder; he hadn't missed that her limp had gotten progressively worse the longer they traveled.

"Taken care of, I'm sure SG-10 already has them back at the SGC by now." Cam closed his eyes briefly, trying to rid himself of the dizziness he'd been feeling since he'd found them in the tent.

"Well then, let's go home."

**STARGATE: SG-1**

General Landry had been pacing the gateroom since SG-10 had come back ten minutes before. Unfortunately for the SFs in the room, he'd been so involved in his thoughts that he'd forgotten to tell them to be at ease. He looked up to the control room when a new wormhole was established.

"It's SG-1's IDC, sir."

Landry watched as Sam and Daniel were the first to come through. In the corner of his mind he registered that Walter had already called a med team to the gateroom. "Good to have you back," he greeted them as warmly as was possible in his current mood. "Now, where's that insubordinate team leader of yours?"

Carter and Jackson shared a confused look. "Ah, he and Teal'c stayed behind to make sure SG-4 didn't have any trouble getting through the gate, sir."

At that point the med team arrived and loaded Sam onto a stretched despite her objections that she could walk. Daniel was about to question Landry's remark when the object of his inquiry came through the gate with Teal'c and SG-4.

Landry immediately stalked up to the younger man and stopped four inches from his face, "My office, NOW!"

There was a collective wince from all those who had witnessed the brief but volatile confrontation. Cam stood rooted to the ramp as everyone but Jackson and Teal'c filed out the door.

"What was that about?"

Mitchell looked at him with haunted eyes, "you might want to start looking for a new team member."

Both of Teal'c's eyebrows went up at that statement, "Col Mitchell?"

But Cam just shook his head and started down the ramp, his heart feeling nearly as heavy as the rest of his body. He'd gotten them home safely, that was all that mattered, even if they weren't his responsibility anymore. The pounding in his head intensified with each step and the roaring in his ears drowned out the sound of Jackson calling his name.

"Mitchell! Damn it, Mitchell, what the hell are you talking about?" Still receiving no response he marched forward to lay a hand on Cameron's shoulder. Daniel watched in confusion as the Col missed the last step off the ramp and pitched forward onto the concrete floor. "Well that was graceful," he laughed until he realized that Cameron wasn't moving, "Mitchell!"

Teal'c was already at the wall phone calling for a med team by the time Jackson had rolled the unresponsive man to his back. Other than a newly-forming goose-egg and fresh blood on his forehead, there were no injuries immediately obvious; until he ran his hands down Cam's BDU jacket and felt the sticky wetness on the left side. He'd just pulled up Mitchell's t-shirt when Dr. Lam arrived, revealing the blood soaked bandage. Carolyn didn't say a word as they bundled him onto a stretcher and raced for the infirmary.

Daniel and Teal'c followed just far enough behind to stay out of the way. "Col Mitchell was not injured during our rescue, correct?"

"I don't think so, Teal'c. It must have been from the rock slide."

"General Landry would not have allowed him to come after us if he was already injured," Teal'c stated confidently.

Jackson nodded, "which explains why his so pissed. Mitchell must have disobeyed his stand down order." They stopped in the doorway to the infirmary and watched as the staff hovered over their friend. Daniel spotted Sam nearly jumping off the bed in an effort to see what was happening and worked his way over to her.

"What's going on?"

"He collapsed in the gateroom. So far I've heard the words fracture, concussion, lacerations, and-"

"BP 76/48, heart rate's up to 137," one of the franticly working nurses reported.

"He's bleeding internally, push a liter of A positive and prep the OR!" A handful of staff rushed from the room to comply with Lam's order. The fact that she knew SG-1's blood types by heart wasn't a good thing.

Sam's breath hitched in her chest, "how'd this happen? He was fine a few minutes ago."

"We believe the injuries occurred during the rockslide this afternoon," Teal'c responded as he joined them.

Landry stormed into the infirmary only to be stopped by an amazingly poisonous glare from his daughter. He immediately backed out of the way to allow Mitchell's stretcher out the door. "What the hell's going on here," he roared, mainly to cover up his concern and confusion.

"He collapsed after you left the gateroom, sir. They're taking him to the OR to stop the internal bleeding."

Landry hung his head, it was hard to be mad at someone who was on an operating table. "Damn it, I knew he was hurt worse than he let on. I should had throttled him when I had the chance." He left the infirmary the same way he'd entered it, people jumping to get out of his way.

Daniel and Teal'c watched as a senior nurse cleaned and bandaged Sam's leg. They continued to sit and wait for the next two hours until Cam was brought back from surgery. Dr. Lam fussed with her patient for a few more minutes before coming over to talk to them. They had learned early on that Carolyn wouldn't say a word to them until she was ready. Teal'c immediately offered the exhausted woman his chair.

"We've got him stabilized for now, but don't expect him to be up and around for awhile. The laceration to his left flank was deep enough to nick his kidney, he lost quite a bit of blood before we got it repaired. The infection shouldn't take too long to clear up since we caught it early. He's pretty well beat up; the broken leg and the concussion will keep him down for awhile too." She looked at the down-trodden team, she saw way too much of them in here. "How'd he manage to make the General so irate?"

Sam cleared her throat, "He disobeyed a stand down order and led the teams back to get us. Basically, he threw away his career and almost his life, for us."


	4. Chapter 4

Carolyn rapped on the door to her father's office before entering; she wasn't surprised to find him with his head in his hands. "Are you going to do it?"

Landry stared hard at the form in front of him, "I honestly don't know. The entire control room heard him disobeyed the order, twice; one the other hand, I can sympathize with why he did it. Hell, I probably would have done the same thing in his shoes." He finally raised his head to look at her, "How is he?"

Considering, most of the blood running through his veins right now isn't his, he's doing remarkably well. Assuming no other complications arise, he'll make a full recovery. He fractured the distal end of his tibia, so that will keep him off your mission roster for at least six weeks. If you decide to let him keep his team, that is." She knew this was a hard decision for him and was damn glad she wasn't the one making it.

He nodded, avoiding her eyes, "what would you do?"

"I'm not in the military for a reason, dad." She gave him a sad smile as she walked out the door, "I'll call you when he wakes up."

"Great," Landry picked up the form again and reached for a pen.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

"Well, Col Carter, you're free to go. However, knowing the three of you, I'll leave the bed open and have some extra blankets brought over."

Daniel looked up in surprise, "you're not going to kick us out?"

"Would it work," Carolyn asked in amusement.

"No" "Nope" "It would not"

Lam shook her head, "that's what I thought. Well, I think we've had enough orders disobeyed for one day, you can stay until he wakes up."

Sam gave her a grateful smile, "thanks, Carolyn."

Lam checked on her patient one last time before heading to her office. His temperature was slightly elevated, but that was to be expected with the infection. She was confident the antibiotics would keep things under control. Looking at his bruised face she prayed the General would let him off easy. Asleep, his face held an innocence that she hadn't seen in him for a number of months.

"You think he knew how badly he was hurt?"

The silence stretched on as the three friends debated whether or not they really wanted to know the answer to that question. Cam had made no secret of his almost hero-like worship of them when he'd first come to the SGC; over time that respect had grown, but it had also become grounded in reality. He had learned that none of them were perfect and they had learned that he would do anything to protect them and the earth.

Cursing an intellectual mind that wouldn't quit, Jackson pulled his chair over to Cam's bed. "I'll take first watch, you guys get some sleep." He turned back thirty seconds later to find Sam fast asleep on the bed and Teal'c beginning his kel-no-reem. Shaking his head, he turned back to the pale figure in the bed. "Well, you did it, we all made it back safe and sound. But one of these days I'm going to get you to figure out that your life is worth just as much as ours are." He sat back and let his mind wander back over the past nine years and the team Cameron had worked so hard to bring back together.

Daniel nearly jumped out of his chair when a hand landed on his shoulder, Sam grinned down at him as he tried to catch his breath. "My turn, go get some sleep."

Carter took Cameron's limp hand in her own. "You know you're taking years off our lives don't you; between you, Jack and Daniel I've probably lost twenty years already. Hell, even Teal'c looked a little pale when he and Daniel followed your stretcher in here." Sam knew that she was rambling, but that's what you were supposed to do in situations like this. "I don't think any of us expected to get that family back you know, but I think I can safely say that we've gained a stereotypical little brother and sister, where ever Vala ended up. But you are family, Cam."

"Can't be –little brother."

Sam was only half surprised when the muddled voice interrupted her monolog, "Why's that?"

Cam cleared his throat and took the offered glass of water. "Cause then Jackson would be able to beat me at hoops." Mitchell managed a half grin before a yawn took over. "Going back to sleep now, you guys go home, I'm fine."

Sam just patted his hand and gave him a patronizing smile. "Whatever you say, _sir_." She knew in her heart, that no matter what happened now, they would always be family.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

The next morning Lam found her father in exactly the same position she'd left him in the night before. Taking in his haggard appearance and dark circles under his eyes, she knew he hadn't slept at all. "He's awake enough for you to talk to now, just go easy on him." She smiled sadly, "I think he's already resigned himself to losing his team."

Landry nodded, "I'll be down in a minutes." He looked at the form on his desk one last time before dropping it into the shredder. The rest of SG-1 was already in the infirmary surrounding their injured team leader when he got there. The image that came to mind when they each turned a glare in his direction was that of a pack protecting their young. Cameron, on the other hand, sat up a little straighter in bed and saluted. "At ease Col. and the rest of you can relax too. It turns out I'm not as much of a hard-ass as I'd like to think I am." He directed his attention back to Mitchell who had melted back into the bed with relief, "but if you ever do anything even half that stupid again and I will personally kick your ass all the way back down to private, understood."

"Yes sir." Mitchell tried to keep the fact that he would go back and do it all over again if he had to, out of his voice. It drove him nuts that he could already feel his energy waning even though he'd only been awake for fifteen minutes.

Carter put a hand on his shoulder as Landry walked out. "Cam, why did you disobey his order?"

"-my responsibility," he managed to get out around a yawn.

Daniel bounced on the balls of his feet a couple of times, "um, what was that?"

Cameron managed enough energy to wrinkle his nose at Jackson's goofy grin. "I said you guys are my responsibility." He braced himself to get yelled at. "When Gen O'Neill and I talked about me taking this assignment, I gave him my word that as long as I was breathing I would protect you guys. I guess he knew I'd eventually get you all back," a small smile played over his lips.

The three members of his team shared a look. "Look Mitchell-"

"Jackson, I don't give my word lightly but I did give it willingly. Look, your guys' job is to figure out a way to defeat the Ori, my job is to protect you so that you can. Guys, I'm fading fast here; you have the day off, go home and get some sleep." Cam rolled onto his uninjured side and buried his face in the pillow, effectively ending the conversation.

"We will visit you tomorrow, Col Mitchell." He turned to leave, realizing just how similar Mitchell and O'Neill were in certain ways, a willingness to do anything for what they believed in being the main one.

Daniel watched Teal'c walk out the door. "I'm glad you're ok, Mitchell, but the General's right, please don't ever do anything that stupid again." Sam followed Daniel's retreating back, but not before laying a comforting hand on Cam's shoulder and whispering a single word in his exposed ear.

Cameron smiled sleepily into the pillow. Carter was right, they were a family; very strange and slightly dysfunctional one, but a family none the less.


End file.
